An aerial view shows an overturned 36-foot boat resting inside a Lake Havasu campsite north of Cattail Cove State Park following a fatal crash on Saturday, Sept. 12. (Mohave County Sheriff's Office)
LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. - A high-speed boat crash on Lake Havasu left two local residents dead Saturday evening after their vessel slammed into a rocky peninsula, launched through the air and flipped upside down into a remote campsite.
What we know:
Deputies with the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Boating Safety Division responded to the shoreline just north of Cattail Cove State Park shortly after 7 p.m. following reports of a severe watercraft collision. Upon arriving on the Arizona side of the lake, first responders discovered a 2019 36-foot Douglas Marine boat lying upside down on dry land.
Deputies found two people unresponsive near the overturned boat and immediately began CPR and life-saving measures. Emergency crews from the San Bernardino County Fire Department and the Lake Havasu City Fire Department quickly arrived to help, but both victims were ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
The victims:
Authorities later identified the deceased as 65-year-old Charles Romer and 59-year-old Jennifer Luzzi, both residents of Lake Havasu City.
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Dig deeper:
Preliminary findings from crash investigators indicate the high-performance watercraft was traveling at rapid speeds when it struck a large land peninsula extending into the lake. The force of the impact propelled the boat out of the water and airborne through the sky, carrying it across the terrain before it slammed down inside a designated boat-in campsite north of the initial impact point.
What they're saying:
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office says the fatal incident is still under active investigation.
Map of where the fatal boat crash occurred:
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.